


Carrying the name of a hero

by Duttfisch



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Kinda an AU I guess, Mercenary Oc, Other, Rating May Change, Selectively Mute Link (Legend of Zelda), enby oc, link is a stubborn boi, people trying to not get piano'd to death by guardians, probably a relationship in later chapters, so they send mercenaries to kill them
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:49:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22406728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duttfisch/pseuds/Duttfisch
Summary: Sometimes, people just got to do what they have to, despite not being chosen or special. But what started out as a simple job to make a quick rupee soon spiraled into something much bigger than they would have liked - because, of course, they were good at fighting. But dealing with people and prophecies? So absolutely not what they wanted.
Relationships: Link/OC
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I'm still alive, hi. First work in this fandom, let's see how it goes! I'm not absolutely sure if/how frequent I'll continue this, so I'd appreciate some feedback. Have fun reading!

_This is it,_ Link thought, trying to crawl back but being blocked by the pile of rubble behind him. At first, it had not even seemed that difficult – the guardian had been motionless and looking away from him, obviously distracted by something else. He had been pretty sure no better opportunity to kill this thing would be coming up, so he decided to try his luck. This one had given him the most trouble so far – he did have to return to kill the stationary ones again after a blood moon had revived them, but they could not really do anything against his arrows and swords. _This one_ though ... he had tried to kill it multiple times already, only to barely get out due to Mipha's Grace. But not even that was available to him right now.

Link tensed up and squeezed his eyes shut, feeling the red light of its viewfinder dance over his face. Apparently whatever had distracted it had not been enough – as soon as he had paraglided towards it to kill it, it had turned around and just barely missed him with the already-charged shot. He had tumbled to the ground, the surprise stunning him for a moment. Before he could get up again, there was a clawed leg pushing him down and pressing all the air out of his lungs. He heard the guardian charge up another shot.

Suddenly, a glistening light exploded behind his eyelids and the pressure eased. Link gasped and coughed, slowly blinking his eyes open. It took a moment before the dancing stars in his vision vanished. But when they did-

He could see someone crouching down in the spot where the guardian had stood just a dread-filled moment before. He heard a squeal when they lifted the Giant Ancient Core with ease and threw it up in the air before it disappeared in a shower of white sparks. "Finally! That's gonna make a good bow," the figure muttered as they picked up some of the other guardian pieces that were scattered around on the ground.

Link shifted a bit and sat up, still staring at them. They were clad in dark armor, with a helmet whose visor obscured most of their face. The plates of their armor looked awfully close to the markings that adorned the guardians, as well as all Sheikah-tech in general, softly glowing with an orange light.

Apparently startled by his movement, the figure spun around 90 degrees and tensed up, drawing a weirdly-shaped blue glowing broadsword out of seemingly thin air. They stared at him for a moment, completely tense, before they dropped their guard and sighed. "A traveler?" they asked, their voice disbelieving. The sword in their hands disappeared again as they straightened up and took off their helmet, revealing their unruly black hair and their unnaturally green eyes. "What are you _doing_ here?"

Link frowned and slowly got up, his legs slightly shaky as he stood. He raised his hands slowly, to seem non-threatening, as well as to make it easier for them to see his signing. After all, most people knew at least the basic signs – but he made sure to do it slowly anyway. [I was trying to kill it. Thank you for the help.]

They frowned a bit as they came closer, thinking for a moment. "Damn, that's been quite a while, uh ..." they mumbled and looked down at their hands, knitting their brows together. [You're ... welcome.] The signs came out hesitantly, but Link smiled a bit. [Can you ... hear? Not good at ... signing. Can read though.]

The Hylian nodded and signed back, [Yes, I can. Who are you?]

The figure snorted and came to a halt in front of him with a grin. "Could honestly ask you the same thing. But eh, gonna be polite right? Name's Kieran, happy to meet you." They held out their hand and lightly squeezed Link's when he returned the gesture. "But who are you? And why were you fighting that thing? I've never seen you around before." They tapped their hip as their eyes narrowed. "You're not a new recruit, right?"

Link was confused. _Recruit?_ [No,] he signed, shaking his head a little, [I don't really know what you're talking about. But yeah, nice to meet you. My name's Link, I'm ... a traveler you could say.]

Kieran raised an eyebrow and crossed their arms. "A mysterious one, aren't we?" they replied, grinning. "And you're also carrying the name of the Champion ... Eh, keep your secrets if you want to, I'm not one to pry." They raised their hands in mock-defense and turned around again, continuing to pick up the guardian pieces. "Want some of those, too? People honestly pay ridiculously well for them and I already got what I came for."

Link just shrugged and crouched down next to them, picking up some Ancient Gears and Springs, stowing them away in his Sheikah Slate. He had to think of earlier when Kieran had picked up that Giant Ancient Core – those were the rarest thing you could get out of the bigger guardians. He wondered for how long they had searched for it.

[Thanks,] he signed as he stood up, before dusting off his pants. He pulled out his Sheikah Slate and swiped through a few screens, taking stock of his supplies. Out of reflex, he tensed up as he felt Kieran approaching. They hummed and when he looked up at them, they were looking curiously at the tablet in his hands.

"That's interesting ... how did you get that? It looks pretty advanced," they said and patted down their armor, pulling out a similar device. Theirs was already battered though – the edges were held together by cloth that was wrapped around it, and it was smaller as well. They held their Sheikah Slate next to Link's, comparing the sizes.

Link looked up at them and sighed, quickly putting it away again. That stranger had no business being as close to him as they were. He backed off a bit and looked at them for a moment before giving in. [Long story,] he signed and shook his head. [Doesn't really matter right now. Look, it's getting dark and I'm running low on potions and basically everything, I'll have to get going as soon as possible.] He looked out and whistled sharply, listening to the telltale signs of his horse approaching. But there was just silence and he let out a frustrated sigh. _She must have gotten scared._

Kieran raised an eyebrow and looked around as well. "What're you looking for? Your horse?" When Link nodded, they pointed south-east. "I've seen a horse take off in that direction. If you're lucky, the people at Riverside Stable are gonna catch it when they see it."

Link groaned and kicked up some dirt with his boot, looking in that direction. _Hopefully she'll just run back there again as they said ... but ..._ Even if he could eventually get his horse back, he really did not want to be stranded in the middle of Hyrule Field when night was about to come around. Of course, with all the guardians dead, activating the tower would be easy enough usually, but he was not sure if his stamina would be enough without potions. And without being up there, he could not glide back to the stable safely. With an annoyed growl, he sat down on the rubble and looked up at Kieran, half expecting them to just leave.

Instead, they frowned down at Link and rolled their eyes. "Okay, enough with the sulking. Tell me what you wanna do now. Maybe I can help somehow." They looked at the sinking sun before turning their gaze back to the Hylian.

[Just if you promise not to be weird about it,] he signed and snorted. [Also, I'm not sulking!]

Kieran grinned and sat down next to him, way too close for Link's comfort. "Okay, I'm promising to not laugh or something. And yes you are," they teased and gently elbowed his side.

[Goddess, you're annoying.] He rolled his eyes. [Okay, so I gotta get up on that tower over there as long as those Guardians are dead. But I'm all out of stamina potions and supplies which means that I will probably fuck it up if I try.] Obviously, he was frustrated. He was supposed to be the _hero_ that was saving everyone, he should not have to ask others for help just because he could not keep track of his stock.

They chuckled, which brought them an incredulous-furious glare from Link. "That's all? Easy," they said and pulled out a stamina potion, offering it to the Hylian. "There you go, you're welcome."

Link made a surprised sound and looked down on it. The greenish-golden liquid was glowing faintly, even in the darkness that was slowly swallowing everything around them. His eyes darted back and forth between the bottle and Kieran's face. That was a max-level stamina potion – rumors said that those were supposed to energize you for a whole day, possibly more. Of course, these rumors were not entirely true; the few times that Link had managed to craft one of these, it had far exceeded the duration of the effect of a normal potion, but it never lasted longer than maybe a few hours. Still, they were notoriously hard to come by, and just offering them to a stranger seemed like a very, well, _strange_ thing to do.

[What's in it for you?] he signed, wary of what he might have to do in return.

Kieran shrugged, still holding out the potion. "Nothing, really. But I can't just leave you here in the dark when I could help you."

[I don't believe you.] Despite that, Link's hand seemed to hover closer to the potion on its own, the temptation growing. If he could just activate one more tower ...

They groaned. "Okay, knucklehead, if you don't wanna take it without something in return, what about this: I'm gonna give it to you, and then we're gonna meet up at Riverside Stable tomorrow and chat for a bit. I'm curious who you are that you'll take on a Guardian on your own."

Link nodded curtly and grabbed the bottle. [Deal.]

Kieran grinned and stood up, dusting off their butt. "Good, then I'm looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. Good luck with whatever strange business you have with that tower." They waved goodbye and disappeared into the darkness. A few moments later, something lit up a bit away and a loud rattling noise filled the air, raising in pitch as the lights sped away.

 _I'm just not gonna wonder anymore,_ Link thought as he got up, shaking his head. He had more important things to do at the moment anyway.

~*~

Kieran sighed as they called their Eponator Zero back into their Sheikah Slate as they approached the stable. They booked a bed for the night and were just done with taking off their armor when a blinding light shot into the sky not too far from where they came from. A grin crept over their face and they shook their head as they flopped down on the mattress. Truly a curious one – hopefully he would keep his promise.

~*~

Even with the potion, it had taken Link a while to climb the tower, but it was not scary anymore, like when he attempted it with the Guardian Stalker around. He let out an exhausted sigh as he leaned against the pedestal in the middle of the platform and put the Sheikah Slate into the slot. Physically, he was still fit, no problem, but mentally this day had taken quite a toll on him. He smiled a bit when the tower lit up blue, curiously looking at the newly available map. _Hyrule Castle ..._

With another sigh, he shook his head and put the tablet away. There was no use in thinking about it now – he was not nearly strong enough to be able to face the Calamity. So he just turned around and scanned his surrounding for the blurred light of the stable in the distance. He gulped down the other half of the potion and pulled out his paraglider. _If they'll be there?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, the German name of the Master Cycle Zero is way more creative, so suck it language continuity lol


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here I am again :D Thank you to the people who left Kudos, it reminded me to finish and upload this chapter ^-^ Enjoy!

The next morning, Kieran sat with their back against a tree close to the stable, slowly sipping their tea. They yawned and closed their eyes for a moment, enjoying the warmth of the sun that was slowly creeping up on the horizon. They were just about to drift off into a light sleep when a shadow fell down on them, making them frown. With a little grumble, they blinked their eyes open, looking up at the person standing in the way.

Link had to search a while for Kieran, wondering if they would even want to keep their promise. In the end, he found them napping against a tree, the cup in their hand angled, the liquid inside of it dangerously close to spilling on them. In contrast to the day prior, they were not wearing their armor, instead opting for a pair of dark pants with a bright orange stripe over each thigh, as well as a white dress shirt with puffy sleeves. It had flower-shaped little cut-outs on the shoulders that made their dark skin shine through.

He smiled a bit as they looked up at him groggily. [Good morning, there.] With a little sigh, he sat down next to Kieran, opening his arms a little. [Here I am, what now?]

Kieran put their cup down and yawned, stretching a bit. "Good morning to you too." They smiled as they grabbed a second cup and the teapot, looking over at Link. "Do you want some tea? I promise it's not poisoned." They grinned as they poured Link a cup without waiting for an answer, giving it to him.

Link rolled his eyes. [Thanks.] He took a careful sip and sighed as the warmth of the tea spread inside of him. It was some sort of spiced tea, with something added to make it sweeter. He hummed quietly and relaxed a bit.

"Have you gotten your horse back yet? I heard that one of the stablehands found one earlier," Kieran said and pulled their knees to their chest before picking their cup back up.

Link nodded and took another sip, letting his gaze wander back to the stable. He made an affirmative noise and smiled a bit. [She was a little shaken, but she's doing okay now.]

They smiled. "That's good. I'm glad she's not hurt." A few moments of silence passed as they both just sat there and sipped their tea, looking at the stable and the fields. "So, you were the reason for the light show yesterday?" they asked with a little grin, looking at Link sneakily out of the corner of their eye.

Link stiffened up considerably, frowning for a moment before hesitantly putting his cup down. His left hand twitched a little as he forced it down into his lap, thinking. [Yeah, I mean, obviously,] he finally answered, averting his eyes.

Kieran grinned. "You should have seen the people at the stable last night. Literally thought the world was ending or something. 'The Guardians are coming for us!!'" They rolled their eyes and took a sip of their tea. "I had a lot of reassuring to do."

Link bit his lip, his gaze wandering to the Central tower. [I'm sorry,] he signed and looked back at Kieran. [Didn't want to cause more trouble for you.] He tapped on his leg with his free hand.

They shrugged. "Nah, don't worry. I basically had to do my whole 'See here, I'm a Guardian hunter'-spiel once and then they calmed down." With a little sigh, they put their cup down and stretched, rolling their shoulders. "Most of the stable owners and merchants know me by now, so they helped me make it believable." They snorted. "As you can imagine, I wasn't especially convincing in my undergarments."

Link couldn't help but giggle at that. Somehow, he did not know what to think of them – he had not known them for long, but every time he thought he had a rudimentary grasp of them, they said stuff like that and made him wonder. He emptied his cup and put it down next to the pot, smiling a bit. [I haven't really had tea like that. What kinda blend is that?]

Kieran smiled and pointed towards the small metal box that stood next to the pot. "It's a traditional Gerudo blend. It's pretty bitter on its own, so I usually add honey." They chuckled. "Don't tell my mums though, traditions and stuff."

Curiously, Link picked up the box and opened the lid, pulling a face as the smell of the herbs and spices hit him. [Woah, yeah, that's strong.] He put it down again and looked intently at Kieran for a moment. [You're from Gerudo?]

They hummed affirmatively. "Haven't visited in a while though." A sigh escaped them and they laid down in the grass, putting their hands behind their head. "My parents usually don't let me go for a while when I show my face around there, and I kinda got too much to do to stay in one place for long right now." They closed their eyes for a moment until they remembered that they would have to see Link sign and opened them again.

[What do you do? Killing the Guardians and selling their parts?] Link asked and laid down carefully as well. He was still a little tense – even though there really was no danger here, his fighter's instincts were keeping him on edge.

Kieran nodded and rolled over onto their stomach to properly look at Link. "Yeah, you could say that. I'm making sure these things aren't bothering the people around here. They never stay dead for long though." They sighed and thought for a moment. "Which reminds me ... what business do you have with all the Guardians and Towers and stuff? It kinda sounds as if you've jumped out of a fairy tale." They grinned and winked at him.

The tip of Link's pointed ears turned a telling shade of pink as he looked away. [You probably won't believe me,] he signed and grumbled quietly.

They snorted and rolled their eyes. "Y'know, most people don't believe me either when I tell them I hunt Guardians and Sheikah-tech for a living. So, have a little faith in me, hmh?"

[Okay, don't say I didn't warn you,] Link signed hesitantly and looked over at them.

~*~

When Link was done with his story, the sun had climbed up into the sky considerably and Kieran had refilled the teapot twice. "Woah," they said, shaking their head a little, "that sure sounds like something." For a while now, they had wondered if Link was telling the truth – if he was then all of this was certainly something that would be written down in one legend or another. Of course, there was just as much of a possibility of him bullshitting them and playing make-believe with them for whatever reason. But considering the things they had seen so far – apart from the fact that Link had nearly been crushed by that one Walker – everything seemed to line up with what he was saying.

Link sighed and stretched his hands, pulling a bit of a face. He looked at Kieran and raised an eyebrow. [That's all?] Truth be told, he felt a little better now already – even if they might not fully believe them, it was nice to just talk to something about this situation who was not wrapped up in this whole thing. Still, he hoped they would believe him. He did not like to waste time like that.

Kieran sighed and frowned for a moment. "I just ... what do you want to hear? It's a lot to process." They bit their lip and tapped their cup as they thought. "I guess ... I'm sorry that you have to do all of this? ... Yeah."

[You're sorry?] Link signed, frowning deeply. That ... was not what he had expected. Usually, people told him that he'd have to be brave – do his duty, that they would be cheering him on from the sidelines. Never had someone said they were sorry before.

They nodded, their frown slowly settling into an expression of sincerity. "I'd be pretty pissed if some prophecy tried to force me to live a certain way." They shrugged. "I mean, I get that it's important, and I absolutely understand that you want to know what happened to your friends, but it doesn't change the fact that all of this _sucks_. It's nothing I would wish upon anyone."

Link sighed and pulled his knees to his chest, staring at his teacup for a long while as he thought. [Sorry ... it's just ...] he hesitated, [that's not how I thought you'd act. No one has said that before.]

Kieran raised their eyebrows, their hands itching to touch Link, to try and comfort him. He looked so ... _lost_ like this. "Seriously? They must be pretty shitty people then." They hesitated for a moment. "Or, I guess, at least not understand how hard this whole situation is for you." Carefully, they put one hand on Link's back, not moving it, just making sure he felt he was not alone right now. "I mean, I didn't even wanna take over the family business 'cuz it seemed like too much of a commitment ... I can't imagine doing that for the fate of an entire _continent._ "

Link chuckled humorlessly, his shoulders slumping as he felt the warmth radiating from Kieran's hand on his back. [Tell me 'bout it.] He shook his head and stared down at the cup as if it had personally offended him. [People expect me to be this shining figure of ... something. But I'm mostly just confused and scared. I can't even remember most of the stuff people keep talking about ...]

Kieran just listened to him and hummed, their hand starting to slowly rub Link's back. They shuffled a bit closer to him but watched him closely in case he would be uncomfortable with it. Link did indeed freeze up for a moment, and they were just about to pull away again when he let out a deep sigh and leaned against them hesitantly. Kieran smiled softly and kept rubbing his back, then.

Link grumbled quietly and shook his head. [Ugh, I dunno what's going on with me. Sorry for,] he gestured around, searching for words, [all of this.] He blushed a bit and looked away.

Kieran made a little motion with their free hand. "It's fine, don't worry. I guess it can be rough traveling alone with all this shit weighing on you." They smiled and gently squeezed Link's side. "Also, if that helps you somehow, I think you're doing fine. You're not-" they hesitated for a moment, wondering if this was really their place to tell him this, "-disappointing anyone."

Link grit his teeth and lowered his head, a little frustrated sound escaping him. [It sure feels like it though ...] He took a shaky breath and turned away from Kieran a little bit before pressing the ball of his thumb against his eyes. _Why does this have to be so ... weird?,_ he thought. _I barely even know them, and now I've told them my whole damn life story._ But the truth was ... it had been so long since someone had just listened to him, had just hugged him like this, that he just- he was just noticing how much he missed having someone to do these things with.

Ever since he had woken up in the Shrine of Resurrection, everyone had just expected him to be this stoic, self-sufficient person, without thinking about how Link would feel, being thrown into all of this. Even the king had just send him away as soon as he thought Link had been ready, leaving him to explore on his own.

At first, it had been nice, with his muscle memory still mostly intact, and the enemies not really much of a challenge. But the further he strayed from the Plateau, the harder it got to defeat them without being hurt himself. On top of that, he had constantly felt the urge to do things he had forgotten how to do, to search for places that he did not even know existed anymore. It was exhausting.

And, above all, he just missed his friends. Urbosa, Daruk, Mipha, even Revali – and, of course, Zelda. Link missed the banter between them around the campfire, the way Revali would try to challenge him and be an ass just to come around late in the night to mutter an apology. Before he leaned against him much like how he sat with Kieran right now. He missed Daruk's boundless enthusiasm and strength, managing to cheer them up when things were looking grim. He missed Mipha's sweet smiles and gentle touches when one of them got hurt and her quiet, annoyed muttering when Link and Revali had teased each other too much once again. He missed Urbosa's strict but caring voice spurring him and Zelda on as they trained together, the calmness that he had always felt around her. And of course ... he missed Zelda. His memories of her were the fuzziest, always out of reach when he tried to remember.

Link's chest felt tight as he looked up again and blinked his eyes open, an annoyed noise escaping him when he felt the tears that he had tried to hold back roll down his cheeks. He wiped his eyes and immediately frowned when he saw the sun nearly disappearing behind the stable. [Wait, what happened?]

Kieran shrugged and pulled back a bit to stretch themself out after staying in one position for so long. "You seemed ... like you were going through something. I didn't really know what to do, so I just stayed here and kept an eye on you until you came back." They looked at Link closely, their brow furrowing a bit when they saw another tear run down his cheek. "Is there anything I can do to help you?"

Link grit his teeth and slowly shook his head before freezing and sighing. _Now it's too late anyway, I guess ..._ [Just ... just hold me for a while longer?] he asked, hesitantly. [Sorry.]

Kieran softly shook their head and smiled. "It's okay, no worries." They wrapped their arm around Link again and hummed. "Just breathe."

Link leaned against them and nodded slowly. _I'm trying._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also! I drew Kieran over on my Twitter if you want to check that out: https://twitter.com/duttfisch/status/1317144213797167104?s=20  
> Until next time! ^-^


End file.
